The common bed quilt typically will have a mat or equivalent fill of lightweight open-cell or porous material sandwiched between more durable and/or attractive cloth or fabric sheets. Such quilts can be commercially made by initially seaming the layered components together at the perimeters, and then by sewing or stitching them together along patterned seams spaced inwardly from the perimeters. Other products having layered cloth or fabric sheets without any sandwiched fill, or even a single sheet can also have related interior patterned seams or stitchings for holding the sheets together and/or for merely decorative purposes.
Most commercial machines for quilting or stitching fabric sheets utilize a perimeter frame or rack to which the flexible sheet(s) when stretched flat could be clamped. The sheet frame, while aligned horizontally, would then be manipulated to position its clamped sheet(s) between the opposed upper or needle head and lower hook or base components of a sewing machine, which would stitch through the sheet(s) to complete the patterned interior seams. To accommodate this, perpendicularly arranged "X" axis and "Y" axis guide tracks are provided for the sheet frame and/or sewing machine, suited thereby upon specific combinations of relative "X" axis and "Y" axis movements between the sheet frame and sewing machine for generating the desired patterned seams.
One such type of stitching machine has the vertically separated and opposed needle head and base components of the sewing machine horizontally stationary, and the sheet frame and clamped sheet(s) only are moved horizontally along "X" and "Y" axes relative to and between the opposed operating sewing machine components to trace out the patterned seams on the clamped sheet(s). However, to provide complete patterned seam coverage over most of the sheet interior, the guide track and/or frame structure and/or clearance space for actual sheet frame movements need be extended horizontally to approximately four times the size of the sheet frame. An improved type of stitching machine further provides that the opposed sewing machine head and base components are moved in unison alone the "X" axis or side to side of the sheet frame, reducing the size requirements of the stitching machine frame by almost one-half while yet being approximately twice the size of the sheet frame. Another improved type of stitching machine further moves the sewing machine alone the "Y" axis or lengthwise of the sheet frame, reducing the size requirements of the stitching machine again by almost one-half but yet being more than the sheet frame itself.
Thus, as the clamped sheet(s) are stretched out to full size and are oriented horizontally when being stitched in most if not all existing interior seam stitching machines, such stitching machines require floor space larger than the flexible sheet goods or quilt itself, and frequently several times larger than this minimum size. Moreover, additional floor space at least as large as the sheet frame is typically needed for supporting the sheet frame when it is outside of the stitching machine, as when the flexible sheet(s) is clamped to or removed from the sheet frame.
Of further concern, clamping or racking of the sheet(s) prior to being stitched (and frequently releasing even after being stitched) can add significantly to both the time and effort, and thus the cost overall, for such stitching. This can include the added effort needed to adjust the clamping/racking mechanisms to accommodate sheet(s) of different sizes or shapes, needed to stitch bedding quilts for example of different sizes.